Aranya Sahay’s captivating debut Humans in the Loop portrays Nehma, a tribal woman who returns to her Jharkhand village post-divorce with her children. To sustain her family, she becomes a data annotator, a role reflecting the real-life involvement of many Adivasi women in India’s burgeoning AI industry.
Supported by Goa-based Storiculture’s Museum of Imagined Futures, this uniquely whimsical film, drawing inspiration from Karishma Mehrotra’s article “Human Touch,” weaves a story about the significant yet often unrecognized contributions of women from rural and semi-rural backgrounds in India undertaking meticulous data labeling tasks foundational to the development of AI, and emphasizing the critical yet overlooked role these communities play in shaping technological futures.
Sahay offers a nuanced exploration of identity, technology, and empowerment through Nehma’s journey by empathetically exploring how the lived experiences of data annotators can influence AI biases, prompting viewers to reconsider AI’s ethical dimensions and its impact on marginalized communities.
Aranya Sahay
Aranya Sahay is an Indian filmmaker based out of Mumbai. He attended St. Stephen’s College and pursued Directing studies at the Film and Television Institute of India, in Pune. This was soon followed by assisting stints with Imtiaz Ali and Patrick Graham as an Associate Director and Director’s Assistant. Aranya has directed five short films, of which Songs for Babasaheb and Chait have screened at Mumbai International Film Festival, Signs Films Festival, and Jaffna Film Festival. In 2021, his film Saaya was selected as a “Film Bazaar Recommends” project. He was a participant and grant winner in the Museum of Imagined Futures’ 2023 Impact Fellowship Programme.
